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Pakistan Needs Structural Changes

Pakistan’s economy, which has achieved its targets for economic stability under an IMF program, has been falling behind on growth, NewsNow reported. With a substantial provincial surplus, fiscal deficit for the period July-December 2015 was 1.7%. This is well within the target for the year. Revenue collection and expenditure are largely on track. The rate of inflation too has dropped. For the period July 2015 to February 2016, year on year CPI fell, though it is above the lowest point of September 2015. The fall in inflation stalled because of increase in goods and services tax on some items and also because the rupee lost value in August and October. Growth during July-December 2015 had been slow. In agriculture, production of cotton and rice, two major crops, fell. Sugarcane production may increase from last year’s low, but will be short of the 68 million tons target. Agriculture growth is unlikely to meet its target of 3.9% for the year.